Speaking of mounts and the line, had horses once been about two feet tall, in the dim past? Was this another fantasy proffered by lofty science? Were more scientists slightly perverted? Were chemists considered scientists? How so? What horses won the 1858 Kentucky Derby? The Preakness? The Belmont Stakes? Do horse players always die broke? What determines the Brooklyn number in the policy racket? How about the New York number? Just what is the policy business? Is it a real business like selling overpriced clothes? Why do people who live in Brooklyn call Manhattan “New York”? What do people who live in the Bronx call Manhattan?— Gilbert Sorrentino, from Gold Fools (2001)

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About

New York Calling
"By turns tender and irate
whimsical and reflective, it's
a great guide to Gotham's recent history."
-- Mike Wallace, co-author
of the Pulitzer Prize winning Gotham: A History of New York
City to 1898